Need over £500,000 investment?Check out our Patient Debt offer

Investing in...
Your social mission.
What makes you different.
Growing your organisation.

Brought to you by

Big Issue Invest UnLtd

Our impact

Last year alone, the organisations Growth Impact Fund supports reached 65,000 people facing inequities in the UK, including:

People accessing higher and further education whilst in prison
136
People supported into quality jobs
91
People supported to access financial assistance
41,000
Schools guided to improve their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
29

We provide investment for organisations that are

Committed to improving their team's diversity

Looking to grow their trading income

Tackling inequity in the UK

We offer between £50,000 and £1,500,000 of investment. There are four flexible investment types aimed to meet your needs

Equity

Shares in your organisation

£50,000 to £500,000

Revenue Share

Repayments based on your organisation's revenue performance

200,000 to £750,000

Patient Debt

Regular repayments set at an agreed interest rate over several years

£500,000 to £1,500,000

Earlier stage Equity and Revenue Share

Reserved for ventures located outside London and the Southeast

£50,000 to £150,000

Our approach

We're here to make investment better. We don't discriminate based on who you are or where you come from. We'll be open and honest with you from the beginning, and we'll do our best to adapt to your needs every step of the way. That's our commitment to you.

Support preparing for investment

Grant funding so you can access guidance and support services in preparation for investment or to cover your personal expenses through the process e.g. childcare.

A dedicated portfolio manager to support you through each step of the process.

Investment templates and resources to guide you and give you transparency across the due diligence process.

Support to activate investment

1 to 1 support from a portfolio manager to help you achieve your growth ambitions.

Access to our professional network, alumni, and opportunities for additional funding to continue your growth.

Access to pro bono legal support, corporate coaching and mentorship.

Additional grant support (if needed) for growth activities outside the scope of the investment

Want to learn more about social investment?

Frequently asked questions

The Fund hopes to tackle the structural barriers to social investment, as highlighted by the Adebowale Commission, which found that despite £600m of public investment since 2010, the social investment market remained unchanged. In the first 5 years, we hope that:

  • 120 Social Purpose Organisations can access support and we hope to make 50-60 investments. We anticipate this averaging out to between 10 - 15 investments a year (depending on size).
  • 480,000 people per year can benefit from the Social Purpose Organisations that we support
  • Social Investment market changes as a result, and we will be sharing our learnings from the fund publicly through our blog and wider publications to support this.

The Growth Impact Fund is designed to be evergreen, meaning it aims to be self-sustaining and ongoing, with no defined end date.

The Growth Impact Fund was designed to do things differently. We support social purpose organisations by offering both financial and practical business assistance. We offer investment between £50k- £1.5 million in a flexible way which can take the form of:

  • Equity
    We invest in your business in exchange for a share of ownership in the company. This could be right for you if you're looking for exponential growth and a long-term partner. Equity Range: Between £50k and £500k.
  • Revenue share
    We invest in your business and get repaid based on a percentage of your revenue that gets paid back to us. We also offer flexible financing for those with CLG structures and where debt isn't suitable or organisations that may struggle to seek a traditional ‘exit’. Revenue Share Range: Between £50k and £750k.
  • Patient debt
    Long-term loan with the expectation of repayment with interest. We invest in your business and get repaid based on a fixed repayment. Debt Range: £500k up; targeting £750k.

We offer organisations different funding types so they can find what is suitable for their business, which might not be traditional debt. If you are looking for something specific, for example a Sharia compliant investment, then please talk to your Investment Manager so we can help guide you through the options.

Anyone is interested in applying for investment or pre-investment grant support should complete the form on the Growth Impact Fund website.

We also acknowledge some Social purpose organisations are looking for additional funding and development support before looking to raise finance. As a result, we also offer:

  • Up to £15,000 of grant funding to cover additional support and personal expenses.
  • The grants can be used for business costs e.g., consultancy costs, marketing costs, social impact support costs, IT systems etc.
  • Personal costs could include a salary for the entrepreneur or a team member, care costs, travel, translation costs etc.
  • Everyone we work with also has access to our social investment templates and resources to help guide them and provide transparency across the process.

We use the term 'racialised communities' as opposed to BAME (Black Asian and Minority Ethnic). We think that BAME ignores the full spectrum of ethnicities and cultural identities, implying that everyone that falls within this term is the same. 'Racialised' doesn't define the community or the identity, but rather the phenomenon that has happened to them.

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